ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Diatonic functionality

Okay kiddo, let's talk about diatonic functionality!

Imagine you have a bunch of crayons in a box, and each crayon has a different color. You can use these crayons to draw all sorts of pictures, right?

Now, imagine that instead of crayons in a box, you have a bunch of musical notes in a box. These notes, like the crayons, each have a different "color" or sound. You can use these notes to make music!

Diatonic functionality is like a set of rules or guidelines for how to use these notes in a piece of music. It's like having a coloring book where you have to use certain crayons to color in certain parts of the picture.

In music, different notes have different "jobs." Some notes sound really happy, and we call those "major" notes. Other notes sound a little bit sad, and we call those "minor" notes.

One of the main rules of diatonic functionality is that when you're playing a song, you want the notes you use to match the "mood" of the song. If the song is happy and cheerful, you're going to want to use more of those major notes. If the song is sad or serious, you'll probably use more of those minor notes.

Another rule of diatonic functionality is that certain notes "go together" really well, and others don't. Think of it like putting different colors of crayons together - some colors look really nice when you put them side by side, but others clash and look kind of weird.

In music, we call these groups of notes "scales." A scale is just a specific set of notes that sound good together. If you're playing a song in a certain key (which is like a "home base" note that all the other notes in the song revolve around), you'll want to use the notes from that key's scale to make your melody and chords.

So diatonic functionality is kind of like a set of rules that tell you which notes to use and when to use them. It's like a framework that musicians use to create all sorts of different sounds and moods in their music. Just like coloring books can help you make really cool pictures with your crayons, diatonic functionality can help musicians make really cool music with their notes!